This invention relates generally to on-hold telecommunications terminals and relates specifically to communications terminals enqueued at a call center.
Doing business on the Internet is a new and fast-growing industry. More and more frequently, businesses are providing on their web pages icons which Internet browsers can click to place a voice call over the Internet to a suitably-equipped agent at the business"" call center. The economics of Internet call centers are essentially the same as those of traditional call centers, in that it is not economical to have agents sitting idle and waiting for callers to contact the call center. As in traditional call centers, then, the likelihood is that the Internet caller will be forced to wait in a queue for an available agent.
In the prior art, the enqueued callers were placed on hold at the automatic call distribution (ACD) system of the call center, and ACD resources were used to play announcements or other audio programs to the callers while the callers waitedxe2x80x94what is commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cmusic-on-hold.xe2x80x9d This approach ties up various ACD resources, such as time slots and announcement-circuit ports, and is limited in the ways in which the callers"" in-queue experience can be enhanced and controlled.
The Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, makes it possible for a call destination to download an applet for execution on a caller""s terminal or to redirect the caller to another destination (URL). It is not known whether this capability has been exploited by any Internet call centers to provide an alternative to the conventional xe2x80x9cmusic-on-holdxe2x80x9d.
This invention is directed to solving these and other problems and disadvantages of the prior art. Illustratively according to the invention, an applet (an application computer program) is customized for a user of a communications terminal whose communication is enqueued or on hold, and the customized applet is downloadedxe2x80x94from an ACD system, an adjunct processor, etc.xe2x80x94to the user""s terminal/server and the downloaded applet is executed on that terminal/server to entertain the user, supply information to the user, and/or interact with the user. With the ability to download applets to users"" terminals/servers, the users"" in-queue or on-hold experience is now managed at their terminals/servers and not at the ACD systems. This provides an opportunity to create richer, unique, and customized in-queue and on-hold experiences for the users, and to do so without tying up resources of the call center""s ACD system. (For purposes of this application, the term xe2x80x9con holdxe2x80x9d is used broadly and includes the term xe2x80x9cin queuexe2x80x9d. Likewise, the term xe2x80x9cuserxe2x80x9d is used broadly to include any party to a communication, e.g., a caller or a called party.)
Generally according to the invention, a method of communicating involves putting a communication from a user""s terminal in a queue or on hold, customizing a computer program for the user, and downloading the customized computer program to the terminal (including a server for, e.g., a xe2x80x9cthin clientxe2x80x9d) for execution by the terminal while the terminal""s communication is on hold. At the terminal whose communication has been put on hold, the downloaded program is received and executed while the terminal is on hold. When the terminal""s communication is taken off hold, execution of the program typically stops; alternatively, it may be allowed to continue to completion. The communication is put on hold illustratively until a resource becomes available to handle the communication, or selectively by a handler of the communication. Also illustratively, the amount of time that the communication will need to remain on hold is estimated by the communications entity (e.g., an ACD system) that is putting the communication on hold, and the actual amount of time that the communication will remain on hold is negotiated with the terminal (or its user) before the communication is put on holdxe2x80x94for example, the user is given an option to agree or not agree to the estimated on-hold time, or to select an even-longer on-hold time in return for some incentive. In either case, this allows selection of the downloaded program such that the program can be executed (i.e., its execution can be completed) within the amount of time that the communication will be on hold. This also allows the downloaded program to include a count-down program whose execution indicates to the user of the terminal the progress of expiration of that amount of on-hold time. The downloaded program may be a presentation program whose execution presents information (e.g., music, entertainment, education, product and/or service information, advertising, etc.) to the user of the terminal. Or, it may be an interactive program whose execution causes the terminal to interact with the user and preferably thereby gather information from the user, which information is then uploaded from the terminal, e.g., to the communications entity, such as an ACD system, that put the communication on hold. Preferably, the communicating user and/or the terminal are identified (e.g., via an e-mail address, an account number, an IP address, etc.), and the computer program is further customized (for example, on the basis of the URL of the web page from which contact with the call center was initiated) before downloading for the identified user or terminal by using information gathered and uploaded from this user or terminal in a prior communication.
While the invention has been characterized in terms of a method, it also encompasses apparatus that performs the methodxe2x80x94such as an ACD system or a user""s communications terminal, for example. The apparatus preferably includes an effectorxe2x80x94any entity that effects the corresponding step, unlike a meansxe2x80x94for each method step. The invention further encompasses a computer readable medium containing software which, when executed in a computer, causes the computer to perform the method steps.
As this summary indicates, the opportunity offered by this new environment is to make a caller""s in-queue and other on-hold experiences richer and uniquely customized; more so than is possible in a traditional voice network. With the ability to download applets to the caller""s terminal, opportunities exist to create unique and customized in-queue and on-hold experiences without the need to tie up resources at the call center""s ACD system.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention considered together with the drawing.